The Stars in the Pool: A Prose Poem for Lovers

A luminous prose poem set in a forest kingdom where a king and queen shelter their daughter, Roseheart. A young sculptor named Flame arrives from a distant volcanic isle, pledges troth to Roseheart, and faces trials of taste and conscience. A deep, mirrorlike pool and visits from personified forces—a playful earth sprite, an Old Gray Woman who speaks of sorrow and destiny, and a radiant visionary—prompt inward reckoning. Through symbolic episodes and lyrical description the narrative examines love, artistic impulse, the pull of bodily desire, mortality, and the quest for a higher vision that reconciles creation with spiritual responsibility.